Vehicle tire



T. H. KIP..

VEHICLE TIRE.

APPLICATION FILED IIIAYIa, 1921.

Patented Feb. 28, 1922.

M Z fm n j -To' all fwhfmiI it may concern:

THOMAS E. KIP, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

VEHICLE TIRE.

Specication of Letters Patent. Patented Feb 28 1922 Application filed Hay 18, 1921.' Serial No. 470,681.

Be it known that I THOMAS H. Kir, a citizen of the United gtates, residing in the city of New York, borough of Bronx, i'n the count of Bronx and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Vehicle Tires, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates -to tires for automobiles and like motor vehicles and more particularly to that class in which a series ofballs arranged annularly in a shoe offers the desired resilience. T e object ofthe invention is to provide a tire of simple and economical construction affording great resilience and avoiding the disadvantages of the neumatic tire.

T e invention consists in certain details of construction and arrangement by which the above objects are attained, to be hereinafter described and claimed.

improved tire,

The accom anying drawings form a part of this specil cationvand show an approved form of the invention.

Figure 1 is a side view of a portion of the certain portions being broken away for part of its length, and certain other portions being shown `in section.

The remaining figures are on a scale.'

Figure 2 is a peripheral section of the tube or carrier in which the balls are received.

Fi re 3 is a transverse section through the s oe, tube and one of the balls, taken on the une iiiiii in Figure i.

Fi re 4 is a similar view taken on the` line V-IV in Figure 1, between two adjacent balls.

Figure 5 is an elevation of one of the'balls alone. e

Referring to the ferential shoe which may be of any ap roved ty e adapted to be carried by a w eel, not s own, and having its interior circular in cross-section.

Received within the shoe 'is the annular tube or ball-carrier 2 preferably of rubber of sufficient thickness to alford the stiffness required in introducing the balls 3 to its interior. The adjacent ends of the tube are open and are reduced exteriorly to form long rebates as at 4, adapted to be received an held in a sleeve 5 by which the tubular annulus is completed.

The balls 3 are of vulcanized rubber and larger drawin s, 1 is a circumunderstood to are introduced one after another in series withinl the tube 2 until the latter is filled. The dlameter o feach ball equals approximately the interior diameter of the tube, and

the parts are so proportioned that each ball lies in contact with its nei hbors on a h side when the tube is filledg and closed liy the sleeve 5.

Each ball is hollow with thick walls to provide the required resilience and insure the return to a spherical form when relieved from the pressure due to the load in service, and each is provided with erforations 6 so arranged that all cannot e closed simultaneously b contact withithe interior of the tube or wit adjacent balls, and thus to inl sure one or more shall be open in all positions of the ball and permit the collapsed ball to assume quickly its original form by the ingress of air to its hollow interior. As the balls are introduced successively into the tube, a dry lubricant is also introduced, preferabl comminuted graphite, indicated at 7 in igure 1, servin to lessen the friction of one ball against t e next in series and between the balls and tube-wall as the balls are successivel colla sed by compressionand re-inilated uring the revolutions of the wheel, and permit the balls to shift positions along the tube and also to rotate relatively to each other, so that the balls are free to move and transmit the strains of compression from one to the next in gradually lessening degrees, thus forming a yielding annular cushion having resilient qualities closely analogous to those of the pneumatic tire while avoiding the wellknown disadvantages .of the latter.

The inspiration and expiration of air by -the balls tends to agitate the dry lubricant 10 tio balls in said tube, arranged annular-ly and in contactwith each other and with the interior of said tube, each of said balls having perforations extending from the exterior to the interior thereof, and a comminuted gr 1 lubricant in the interstiees between said In testimony 'that I claim the invention above set forth I ax my signature.

THOMAS H. KIP. 

